Introduction and Getting Started

PowerShell is a vast product, especially when you take into account how it's used in other products such as Lync Server, Exchange, and the Windows Operating System. It can be a little daunting to those new with PowerShell - there is a vast array of deeply technical
discussions of all of PowerShell's many aspects, quirks and peculiarities and all. So start at the beginning, and learn the basics, either on you own, or possibly with the aid of a great training class. Then work with it and return to find more. And when
you can, how about adding to the body of knowledge referenced here.

Purpose of this Document

The purpose of this document is to help you to learn more about PowerShell and to be successful in applying it. This document seeks to point to the best content on the web to enable you to reach that goal.

Scope of this Document

This page contains links to help you learn more about Microsoft Windows PowerShell. This includes PowerShell fundamentals as well as how PowerShell is used in Windows applications and services. As long as it's PowerShell related, we'll try to point to it!
The document is also version agnostic, and contains information about current and future versions of PowerShell.

Learning PowerShell Fundamentals

This section includes a list of pointers to guides that show you how to get started with PowerShell. For a more general list of sites that simply talk about PowerShell you should take a look in the "Essential
PowerShell Resources Section".

Windows PowerShell Getting Started Guide
(May 20, 2009, PowerShell 2.0) - This Getting Started guide provides an introduction to Windows PowerShell: the language, the cmdlets, the providers, and the use of objects

Windows PowerShell User's Guide
- (May 20, 2009, PowerShell 2.0) - The Windows PowerShell User's Guide is intended for IT professionals, programmers, and power users who have no prior background with Windows PowerShell

Windows PowerShell Version 2.0 - Windows PowerShell Version 2 is installed with Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 (although with the server core installations,
it's not installed by default). For all other versions of Windows (on which PowerShel is supported), you need to download the appropriate package and install it. The download includes Windows PowerShell Version 2 and WinRM 2.0.

PowerShell 2.0 SDK - The Windows PowerShell 2.0 SDK provides the reference assemblies needed to write cmdlets, providers, and hosting applications, and it provides
C# sample code that can be used as the starting point when you begin writing code.

Learning Resources

General Advice and Guidance

The web contains a rich set of advice and guidance for PowerShell - from learning the basics, to the obscure corners most folks don't go to. Below are what the community figures are the best general purpose places to go for good advice and guidance. NB: In
a later section, below, we also provide links to more specific sets of guidance around the use of PowerShell.

Operations

This section is for content relating to operations. Insert links to blog posts, forum postings or Microsoft content relating to operations and PowerShell.

(none yet)

Sources for PowerShell Scripts

There are numerous repositories of PowerShell sample scripts. Some are very simple and just demonstrate one or two particular aspects of a class or COM object,while others are richer and fuller featured and do more. But all can be adapted, modified, and
leveraged.

TechNet Script Center Script Repository: Need to fix something, like,
now? Search for that one Windows PowerShell script or VBScript script that will get you out of a jam. You can also contribute your own scripts.

PoshCode Script Repository - PoshCode is a repository of Windows PowerShell scripts that are free for public use. As you find things useful, please give back to the community.

Powershell Framework - The Powershell Framework makes running Powershell scripts simple. It provides a means of interactively or non-interactively running scripts in a simple
manner. It provides a form based interface to browse and run scripts, and a clean framework for writing scripts.

PowerShell Modules and Module Guidance

The community has been a rich resource, providing modules to manage aspects of Microsoft products. These can be invaluable This section sets out the key add-on modules and provides links to more guidance on their
usage.

In German (Deutsch)

Newsgroups

User Groups

PowerShellGroup.org

PowerShellGroup.org is the leading registry for PowerShell dedicated user groups. ThePowerShellGroup.org community provides tools and support for creating and maintaining user groups. Current groups registered are:

Holistic picture of PowerShell: not just the syntax and semantics, but the
why of it all. Explanations of tradeoffs in features or syntax. In-depth looks at using PS for WMI and a few other broad categories of usage. Strong discussion of PS v2 features and changes. Strong discussion of security.

**I changed the title from a brand-based (Survival Guide) title to a task=based title to observe the effect
on page views and discoverability. This particular experiment resulted in significant reduction in page views. So I changed it back. Because that's the kind of thing you can do on the wiki :-)